5. The Hierophant — Finding the Guru within
Tarot Through Stories (in lack of better examples, my own life)
The first time I meditated I felt a little bit odd. You know, people tell you how wonderful it is and how freeing it can be, more so if you want to put down your stress levels. The problem was, meditation wouldn’t kick easily. The more you meditate, the better you’ll feel. But just a session won’t be enough. You need to create the habit, and that takes time.
As you learn how to meditate, you start discovering more things that just sitting down and let your stress fade away: you find yourself. It’s a weird search of the “inner guru” which will bring many pleasant and challenging discovering moments.
Spiritual practices, as spiritual teachings, can help us navigate our inner world, even if frightening at times. By discovering the “inner guru” you empower yourself in a fantastic spiritual journey.
KEYWORDS: spiritual techings, spiritual leader, inner guru, outdated systems, outdated believes, finding your own faith, not giving away your power for nothing, spiritual journey.
Finding your “inner guru” is the best thing I’ve done. First, you empower yourself by reaffirming that you won’t give away your power in exchange of shinny trinkets or outdated believes (or systems that no longer serve you). And second, it showed to me how eclectic I am.
Not all believe systems match my personality. While I’m a rebel, I am not the regular one that you might have in mind. Although my fashion is very colorful and my hair color ranges from green to blue, the truth is that I like to have a routine and follow the rules. However, when it comes to my own believe system, I start feeling far too nervous if I have to follow something I don’t connect with at all.
To give you a simple example, if to meditate I would need hours a day, I wouldn’t do it. There’re many different types of meditation, and you can always choose the one that tunes with you the most. But trying to fit in a system that will not help you is but giving away your power in a very silly way.
To me the “inner guru” is as simple as believing in the inner voice and the hunches that you have from time to time. Something utterly rebellious when we live in an age of the non-confidence thanks to social media. Finding your path, believing in yourself, and ultimately listening to the teacher within is but the most rebellious act you can perform nowadays.
The Hierophant also talks about teachings. The traditional card has the “Pope” with two disciples. He passes along his knowledge creating a system that rules and will be perpetuated. However, all institutions can become too strict and objectives to smash when they are too oppressive. Thus, the rebelliousness of the Hierophant speaks of outdated systems and teachings that no longer serve us.
Despite the negative tones, the organization and habit of “meditative states” that the card hints at, are but shadows to the positive aspects of the card. The Hierophant might be stubborn and dedicated to its cause, but in sharing along his knowledge to the outside world, he’s trying to share what works for him.
Remember, negative aspects of this cards appear specially when we go on the edge of stubbornness and we stop listening to the pupils!
One of the best things I learned while teaching in Japan was flexibility. Japanese culture and Mediterranean culture are at odds to each other. Only an open approach eager to welcome questions and even critic is the right one if you want to pass along some information that might be useful to someone. Insist too much on it and you might lose your pupils altogether.
I did find my personal Hierophant by meditating every day, a practice that keeps strong with me. Every time this card appears in one of my readings I end up smiling because I did find my “inner guru.”
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